Batman's next movie is part of an animated trilogy that DC Studios is using to adapt one of the most famous storylines in the character's history. Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall kicks off a multi-part adaptation of the iconic 1990s comic arc that introduced Bane and saw the villain push the Caped Crusader to his absolute breaking point. The first chapter will premiere at France's Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June, and as part of that lineup, the festival has now revealed an interesting detail about the movie.
DC Studios, via the official Annecy Festival listing has confirmed a short runtime of 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 31 seconds for the upcoming animated Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall movie. This clocks in at just over 78 minutes, which is well below most recent DC animated features and makes Knightfall Part 1 one of the leanest entries the studio has put out in years.
For context, the last major DC animated event, Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part One, ran 93 minutes when it dropped in January 2024, with its sequels arriving in a similar range. Watchmen Chapter I came in at 83 minutes later that year, while 2025's anime spin-off Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League ran 89 minutes. Even the smaller Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires, which dropped in 2025, came out at around 89 minutes. By this measure, Knightfall Part 1 is the shortest of the bunch.
The short runtime is not necessarily a bad sign, as DC's animated movies have traditionally hovered around the 70 to 90-minute mark for decades. This is partly because most of them release straight to digital and physical media rather than theaters. Knightfall Part 1 is also only the first of three planned chapters, so a shorter runtime suggests the story has been sliced into focused chunks instead of being stretched into a single bloated feature. The next two installments are expected to adapt the Knightquest and KnightsEnd arcs from the original comics.
Director Jeff Wamester is back behind the camera for this one, having previously handled the entire Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths trilogy as well as Justice League: Warworld and Justice Society: World War II. The screenplay comes from DC Comics writer Jeremy Adams, who has worked on The Flash and Green Lantern comic runs. Annecy will host the world premiere between June 21 and June 27, with a wider digital release expected later in the year.
Knightfall Part 1 is just one of several Batman projects on the way over the next few years. Warner Bros. and DC Studios are running parallel Batman tracks across animation, live-action DCU films, and Matt Reeves' separate Elseworlds franchise.
Every Batman Movie And Show Coming Next
Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2
The Bruce Timm-developed noir series returns for a second season on Prime Video sometime in 2026. Batman: Caped Crusader first dropped on Prime Video in August 2024 after Max passed on it, and Amazon ordered two seasons up front. Hamish Linklater is back as Bruce Wayne, with co-showrunner James Tucker teasing a fresh take on the Joker for the new season. No exact release date has been confirmed yet.
The Batman Part II
Matt Reeves' sequel to his 2022 hit is set for an October 1, 2027, release, with Robert Pattinson reprising his role as the Caped Crusader. The film is under the DC Elseworlds banner and is separate from James Gunn's main DCU. Sebastian Stan and Scarlett Johansson have joined the cast in villain roles, with Stan widely reported to be playing Harvey Dent.
The Brave and the Bold
Batman: The Brave and the Bold is the DCU's main Batman reboot, with Andy Muschietti directing and Christina Hodson now confirmed as the screenwriter. The film draws from Grant Morrison's comic run and was originally pitched as a story about Bruce Wayne meeting his biological son, Damian Wayne. James Gunn has hinted that some elements of that setup are in flux. There is no release date yet, and the earliest realistic window is 2028 or later.
Dynamic Duo
Slated for June 30, 2028, Dynamic Duo is an animated film about the first two Robins, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. Animation studio Swaybox is using a unique puppetry-based technique for the visuals. Gunn has confirmed it is outside the main DCU continuity as an Elseworlds story, despite earlier rumors of a rewrite into the DCU continuity.
BONUS: Clayface
Even though Batman himself does not show up in it, Clayface is still very much a Gotham story. The body horror flick from director James Watkins and writer Mike Flanagan stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, the actor who becomes the shapeshifting villain. The film was originally set for September 2026 but was pushed back to October 23 to take advantage of the Halloween window. Gunn has confirmed Clayface takes place before the events of Superman and Supergirl in the DCU timeline, which helps explain why the Caped Crusader is nowhere to be seen.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
